RUSSELLVILLE — Those looking for a special gift for Mother’s Day may want to attend this year’s Pope County Master Gardeners plant sale Saturday.
“We will have hanging baskets that are just perfect for Mother’s Day,” said Meg Fox of Russellville, president of the Pope County Master Gardeners and plant-sale chairwoman. “We will have baskets that contain all green plants, as well as those that have blooming flowers. We will have baskets for both sun and shade. All will be reasonably priced, less expensive than what you will find at the store.
“We will also have a wide variety of plants — annuals and perennials — vegetables and herbs that are ready for planting, as well as pottery, books and magazines that might make good gifts, too,” Fox said, adding that the sale will also feature trees, shrubs, vines, houseplants, succulents and native plants.
The Pope County Master Gardeners, sponsored by the Pope County Cooperative Extension Service, University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture, will hold the annual plant sale from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Pope County Fairgrounds, 500 S. Knoxville St. There is no admission charge.
The local Master Gardeners have been busy for the past several months, propagating and growing a variety of plants, as well as digging them from their own gardens. This year, they have raised the plants in two greenhouses — one at Russellville High School and one at the home of Juanita Darter in Atkins. Darter is a longtime Master Gardener and served as chairwoman of the plant sale for several years before Fox assumed that responsibility.
Pattie Ward, who lives on Crow Mountain, has been tending the plants at Darter’s greenhouse.
“I’ve been fertilizing them once a week,” Ward said. “They have really taken off; I had no idea they would grow so fast.”
Among the plants Ward has been growing in the greenhouse are tomatoes, peppers, basil and dill, along with cockscombs, datura, African daisies, forget-me-nots and marigolds.
The Master Gardeners are also growing plants in the greenhouse at Russellville High School. Fox said they have had a working relationship with the local high school for several years that allows them to use the greenhouse, and they, in turn, help the students with some of their horticulture projects.
Among the plants being kept at the high school greenhouse are petunias, SunPatiens, hummingbird mint, gaura, gaillardia, datura, milkweed, firecracker vine, coreopsis, cardinal climber, black-eyed Susan vine, artemisia, pineapple sage, salvia, angelonia, Persian shield, lantana, dill, cilantro, lemon balm, thyme and hanging baskets.
Other members are bringing plants from their gardens that include solidago, penstemon, black-eyed Susans, foxgloves, catmint, brugmansia, golden Kerria, toad lily, honeysuckle, mahonia, hosta, sedums and succulents, tall verbena, Russian sage, and agastache or hummingbird mint.
Fox said the Master Gardeners “are focusing on all pollinators this year.
“Last year, we focused on the Monarch butterfly and had a special exhibit about that,” she said. “This year, we are focusing on all pollinators — bees, hummingbirds, wasps, butterflies and even bats.
“We need to keep our gardens healthy,” Fox said. “Our gardens need those pollinators. We need those animals to come to our gardens.”
Master Gardeners will be available at the sale to answer questions about pollinators and to help select plants that attract them.
“We will have plenty of plants to attract pollinators and brochures and handouts of information on pollinators and why they are important to humanity,” she said. “Master Gardeners will be on hand to direct customers to plants that attract certain pollinators. For instance, hummingbirds like long tubular-shaped flowers, so the cardinal climber vine and the agastache, also known as hummingbird mint, are perfect plants to attract hummingbirds to your yard.”
The plant sale will also feature a garden shed, where patrons can purchase “gently used” garden items such as tools, pots and books.
Members of County 76, the statewide advisory group for the Arkansas Master Gardener program, will be in attendance, too, selling gardening merchandise.
Fox said the local Master Gardeners will encourage people who buy plants at the sale to “recycle” the pots that hold their newly purchased plants.
“We encourage them to go home, plant their new plants and then recycle the pots,” she said. “We will have a recycle receptacle set up at the Garden of Hope, which is at the corner of B Street and Commerce Avenue.”
The Pope County Master Gardeners meet at 1 p.m. the second Thursday of most months at the First Assembly of God Church in Russellville; they do not normally meet in July or September.
Proceeds from the plant sale will benefit the many programs of the local Master Gardeners, including the Garden of Hope, which is a project to mentor youth. The group also gives two scholarships per year for a student studying horticulture at Arkansas Tech University.
In addition to Fox, other officers of the Pope County Master Gardeners include Margaret Pinder of Dover, vice president in charge of publicity; Roger Fryar of Russellville, vice president in charge of programs; Jessie Biesterfeld of Dover, secretary; and Linda Russenberger of Russellville, treasurer.
For more information on the Master Gardeners program or its plant sale, call the Pope County Cooperative Extension Service at
(479) 968-7098.